Feb 1, 2008
Users are in fact mythical creatures that only dwell in statistics and Excel sheets.
Let’s say you are creating a website for a travel agency directed at female customers.
In the course of your research of this particular kind of service consumers, you have found out that your target group, the site’s future users, is the following: female, successful career women, age between 25 and 54, income around R$5,000 a month, two kids.
Keep in mind that users do not exist, but people do
All that information characterizes the user of the website you are developing and is very valuable, no doubt about that. Now then, after gathering and analyzing all the data, you are ready to begin designing the website, right? WRONG!
You still have a major problem to sort out: Users do not exist!
Users are in fact mythical creatures that only dwell in statistics and Excel sheets. Users do not exist in the real world. Users do not possess feelings, they do not think, do not make decisions neither make mistakes.
Going back to our travel agency example, there may be two completely different women that, nevertheless, still fit the profile you have just outlined through your research, but their shopping habits and internet searching systems are absolutely at odds with each other’s. One is extroverted and goes after what she wants without giving it a second thought. She relishes challenges and makes quick decisions. The other, conversely, is highly introverted, quiet and does not appreciate being rushed through her decision-making process because she loves doing a lot of research before committing to a decision.
You must have realized by now you cannot rely solely on users when designing a website. Then, how in the world do we create a website that accommodates so many different people, with diverse needs and distinct processes of choice and purchase through the internet, even though they all fit the same user profile?
Persona-based design. This expression describes an approach to interface development that is able to fill in the existing gap left by the mere analysis of users. It is supported by the creation of characters based on ethnographic data gathered during research of the target group for which you are building the interface.
Ethnographic data comprise behavioral aspects focused on what users do, what frustrates or pleases them. A character is an archetype of the user and might be helpful to you in making decisions regarding tools, navigation, usability, interactions in general, and even aesthetic matters.
As you create a design for those characters, you are in fact meeting the needs of a much larger group of people than that represented by the archetype.
There are different ways to develop a persona-based design, and several of them are currently being employed by design companies. One technique you can resort to is applying all the data collected (behavioral patterns, needs, wishes and attitudes) to the creation of four or five characters who have goals, tasks to perform, and distinct skills. To do so, you have to identify the behavioral patterns available through the information assembled.
Based on the unique characteristics of each character, make up short stories in narrative format about every one of them including details that may be valuable for the designing of the system. It will help establish an emotional bond between yourself and the characters.
Such emotional connection between designer and characters is important for several reasons. When you are working with “real people” who have a background, needs and tangible attitudes, you escape from meaningless discussions and also run a lower risk of ending up creating an interface that is pleasing to you, but which is ultimately not the ideal one for those actually using the site.
That approach is even more effective when there is a team of designers working together on the same project, because once all the members of the team start operating in a more cohesive way, knowing for whom they are developing the interface (guided by the perspective of the character at issue), a series of battles that usually take place in the course of the creative process is eliminated. There is no question that it saves the time and money required at this stage of the project.
Design based on characters has also proven itself to be quite significant and effective in processes of redesign. As there are previous data available, it is possible to verify an overall improvement, such as an increase in traffic, client loyalty, and satisfaction of those navigating the website.
As you create a website, keep in mind that users do not exist; people do!
